A broadcaster who was removed from Eurosport’s 2024 Summer Olympics coverage after making a sexist remark about Australia’s women’s swim team has apologized via social media.
via People:
“Right here it is the statement pt 1: The comments I made during the Australian freestyle relay victory ceremony on Saturday have caused some offence,” longtime swimming commentator Bob Ballard posted on X(formerly known as Twitter) on Monday, July 29. “It was never my intention to upset or belittle anyone and, if I did, I apologise. I am a massive advocate of women’s sport.”
In “part two of [his] statement,” he added, “I shall miss the Eurosport team, dearly and wish them all the best for the rest of the Olympics. No further comment will be issued. Thank you.”
A day prior, on July 28, multiple outlets — including The Independent, Deadline and the New York Post — reported that Ballard made an inappropriate comment about the Australian women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team the day before.
“Well, the women just finishing up. You know what women are like… hanging around, doing their makeup,” Ballard reportedly said after the women won a gold medal in the event, and as they were exiting the Paris Aquatic Centre.
Per Deadline, fellow commentator Lizzie Simmonds called Ballard’s comment “outrageous.” From there, Eurosport reportedly removed Ballard from its coverage, releasing a statement to The Independent.
“During a segment of Eurosport’s coverage last night, commentator Bob Ballard made an inappropriate comment. To that end, he has been removed from our commentary roster with immediate effect,” the statement read.
Ballard has yet to publicly address the reported removal as of Sunday afternoon. He did, however, reply to a post on X on Sunday from Eurosport’s Laura Winter, who shared some updated swimming coverage. “Have a great one,” he wrote in response.
He should’ve known better.
